24 April, 2009

We just received sample VO Porteur bars. You may remember that we used to sell NOS Belleri Porteur bars from France. Of course Belleri is long out of business, but hardly a week goes by without someone asking if we have just one last pair. So I decided to make our own Porteur bars.

The samples are perfect (a welcome change) with a 48cm width, about 2cm drop, 25.4mm clamp area, and 23.8mm tubing. The quality and polishing are very nice. The transition from the grip to the curve on the originals was a little more abrupt, which is actually very attractive. Our version has a gentler transition. The curves on both versions are fuller and, to my eye, prettier than the somewhat similar Champs Elysées bars used on the old Herse bikes.

They should arrive in about three months. I don't know what the price will be yet, maybe $30-$35.

I'd suggest having the VO engraved at the bar end where it will be covered by tape/grips (as does the Belleville). I'm sure somebody out there would like to run the bar flipped so there is a touch of rise instead of a touch of drop - and this way the logo will not be upside down. An extremely minor detail but why not do away with it while you can?I understand that promoting one's brand is generally good practice but I have to say I'm not really a fan of the laser etched VO logos popping up on the new products. I'd just rather not have em'... just sayin'...If they must be there, I'd rather have them screened on in silver so I have the option of polishing them off.All that said, another fine product - a great looking bar!

I love my Belleris, and would order an extra pair of these. Thank you.

My personal opinion about the logo would be to put it where the others traditionally are, up near the stem. Why? Because otherwise it's too generic. It's okay for things to have logos, they just have to look good!

Maybe Chris ought to get guidonnet levers made too! Ours worked well on the Nitto Promenades we tried as well, the flat ones...though she didn't like the bars themselves in the end. The Belleri porteurs have been perfect! Glad Chris has brought them back. Might buy a pair just to get away from having to use a shim.

these bars look great, kudos! I was wondering if there has ever been any interest in a couple things to improve fender lines... one being darumas with a longer bolt to allow the fender to sit lower. Also drop bolts, or something similar, for the rear brake bridge to lower the fender/brake. I'm pretty sure NOBODY makes drop bolts anymore... i wonder if there is a market? These might be mainly 650b conversion products...

Many hardware stores carry wonderful alloy spacers that should prove quite durable. I used a couple on the rear fender of my "Pseudobecane" with massive tire clearance. Faucet washers provide some noise control.

I have an inverse daruma--steerer plug with hole for brake bolt and threaded to receive a bolt--which I got I don't know where, but which would be wonderful to provide for bikes with large front tire clearance. Just use a button-head bolt coming up from underneath the fender and some spacers; bolts come in all sizes and can even be cut. (Sorry, no photo of it.)

These look terrific! However, in my experience the thing about these swept-back bars is that it's hard to find stems long enough. For anything but the flattest terrain, I really feel that having the bars a reasonable distance forward of the saddle is a must. Otherwise, it gets very hard to ride standing up -- which can be helpful for hills. And you can't make up for it by just pushing the saddle back, because as soon as you stand up the saddle position's moot. (The extreme example would be, if you've ever tried to ride one of those old English roadsters standing up.)

With drop bars, your hands when on the brake hoods are about a foot farther forward than they are gripping some of these swept-back bars, at least if you use the same stem.

I've had the opposite experience of the above commentes - almost all production bikes in my size have tt's that are too long for me. Ideally, I'd ride a 60.5 x 56 c-t-c. Some older frames can be found near to these measurements but nothing new comes close. Promenade/swept back style bars have allowed me to ride several bikes that otherwise would have had a 70mm stem on them, still been a bit of a stretch and handled poorly.These style bars are making there way onto many of my bikes. Also, I never ride in the drops so I don't miss them at all.

That's not the opposite experience, that's the same experience. Bars like the Albatross or these Porteur bars need a longer top tube to put the bars in a "normal" position than drop bars. If your drop bars are too far away, bars like this will be closer.

The problem comes in if you have a frame whose top tube is sized for drop bars (e.g., your 60x56) and you want to put bars like this on. Now the porteur bars will be too close, and you'll need a long stem to get them where they need to be.